Changing playout systems is daunting mainly because it feels like an all-or-nothing switch. It does not have to be.
Bring the audio across first
Your library is files on disk, and that is portable. Import folders recursively; metadata loads lazily in the background so a large import is usable immediately.
M3U playlists can be imported, which covers exported running orders from most systems.
Categorise before building clocks
The temptation is to go straight to rotation clocks. Resist it — clocks select by category, and until the library is categorised there is nothing meaningful to select.
Assign categories in bulk, and set default category and genre so subsequent imports land correctly. Use the ADS, ID and VT prefixes for imaging, because those codes drive transition behaviour as well as scheduling.
Analyse the library once
Two batch jobs are worth running before you rely on anything:
- Analyze all tracks for loudness, filling the cache so playback is instant-ready and levels are consistent.
- Analyze Library Cue Points for intro and outro markers, so transitions mix on markers rather than fade-outs.
Both run in the background. Both are the kind of thing you do once and benefit from indefinitely.
Run it in parallel
Build one rotation clock for one daypart and generate an hour. Read the preview timeline. Compare it against what your existing system would have scheduled.
Doing this for a week costs nothing and tells you more than any amount of planning.
Switch at the quietest hour
Move overnight or on a weekend, when a mistake costs the fewest listeners. Keep the old system installed and configured until you have been through a full week — including whatever weekly specials exist, since those are what nobody remembers to test.
What to check afterwards
Watch the schedule confidence chip and the system health indicator for the first few days. Missing files and missing cues are the usual migration artefacts, and both surface there.
Review airplay compliance at the end of the first week: log-gap hours will tell you about any outage nobody reported.